Unlike Roland's much more famous sword Durendal, very little is said about Almace in the Song of Roland. However the Norse saga, the Karlamagnus saga expands this slightly,[1] claiming that a sword called Kurt (better known as the Curtana), Almace and Durendal were three swords forged by the legendary Anglo-Saxon blacksmithWeyland, and presented to Charlemagne. Charlemagne tested the swords by seeing how far they would cut into a steel mound; Kurt penetrated "a hand's breadth" but was notched, Almace penetrated a hand's breadth without damage, and Durendal penetrated "half the length of a man's foot". Charlemagne gave Kurt to Ogier the Dane and Almace to Bishop Turpin, and initially kept Durendal for himself. (Later he was told in a dream to give Durendal to Count Roland.)

Another legend,[2] written about Curtana itself, claims that it, Durendal, and Charlemagne's Joyeuse are a set of three, leaving Almace's origins unexplained.